Discovering Edicy

Edicy is a bare-bones web creation tool. I am using the tool "i-Lighter" and a Google tool-bar button "Blog This!" to send this to blogger.com.
Such fun!

But what Web 2.0 tools are truly useful? Will make me more efficient? More enlightened? A better person?

Hulu

Hulu allows high density TV/Video to be incorporated into blogs. Try searching for Web 2.0 videos.

Top Web 2.0 Tools (Is JING a Good Thing?)

Here is a screen capture with voice over using my Mac and Techsmith's free tool Jing. Try using it in your blog.
Here are some frequently asked questions about JING .
How might this tool be of use to members of the Carroll Community?

Books that have influenced me and students who are teaching me...

Three books that I have read and reread the past few years are George Orwell (Eric Blair)'s 1984 and Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)'s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

George Orwell fascinates me on a number of accounts---his mastery of language, his prescience, and his outlook about politics. While I was faculty president, I gave copies of his book to people as a reminder of the chilling threats and effects of totalitarianism and doublespeak on this campus.

Lewis Carroll, though more playful, also is masterful with language and with alerting us to the the dangers of when illogic becomes the norm and when language is misused.

I find Carroll's decisions a few year's ago (process and outcome) to eliminate the word "department" from our Carroll argot and the more recent changing of our name from "college" to "university" Orwellian and Humpty-Dumpty-like.

Still, the joy of teaching remains and the truth will set us free.

Reflections While Blogging Tonight

Look at my cluttered desktop above (click on the JPEG to see the screenshop taken with SnagIt). Cluttered with Web 2.0 tools waiting for me to fully master, evaluate, and teach.

Doggy is snoring by my feet. My First Year Seminar students are sending me their first formal blogs as I type this. So far I am pleased by their efforts.

I'm pondering whether I should request release time of two course next year to more fully develop my mastery of these Web 2.0 tools and to promulgate their use to other faculty and interested students. Every day I discover a new application which has high potential for learners. What do you think> Cast a vote.

So much to learn. Should I give up two classes next year and in return use taht time to become a Web 3.0 tools educator for all interested faculty and students? Write a book? It's a tempting idea since time is such a precious commodity and i think that i now have the knowledge base, the momentum, and the student talent. Carpe diem?

There are so many NEAT and potentially useful gadgets. And I believe that the potential readers of this blog actually know that if there is a hypertext link, they might be rewarded by clicking it!


Here for example is a way for students to search for Psychology topics on the Social Psychology Network.





Time to return through the Looking Glass. (Ask Alice).
Even more curious in Carroll Land and seeking help.

Getting Started

Curious how each piece of blog authoring software takes getting used to. I'm looking for something as close to what I used when I was writing the "Curious David" column JSOnline yet will allow me to share the many things I now know are possible.

I'm writing this on my Mac। I hope to make this blog useful and of interest especially to my students and former students.